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- <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" /><title>11.10. Operator Classes and Operator Families</title><link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="stylesheet.css" /><link rev="made" href="pgsql-docs@lists.postgresql.org" /><meta name="generator" content="DocBook XSL Stylesheets V1.79.1" /><link rel="prev" href="indexes-index-only-scans.html" title="11.9. Index-Only Scans and Covering Indexes" /><link rel="next" href="indexes-collations.html" title="11.11. Indexes and Collations" /></head><body><div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/transitional" class="navheader"><table width="100%" summary="Navigation header"><tr><th colspan="5" align="center">11.10. Operator Classes and Operator Families</th></tr><tr><td width="10%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="indexes-index-only-scans.html" title="11.9. Index-Only Scans and Covering Indexes">Prev</a> </td><td width="10%" align="left"><a accesskey="u" href="indexes.html" title="Chapter 11. Indexes">Up</a></td><th width="60%" align="center">Chapter 11. Indexes</th><td width="10%" align="right"><a accesskey="h" href="index.html" title="PostgreSQL 12.4 Documentation">Home</a></td><td width="10%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="indexes-collations.html" title="11.11. Indexes and Collations">Next</a></td></tr></table><hr></hr></div><div class="sect1" id="INDEXES-OPCLASS"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both">11.10. Operator Classes and Operator Families</h2></div></div></div><a id="id-1.5.10.13.2" class="indexterm"></a><a id="id-1.5.10.13.3" class="indexterm"></a><p>
- An index definition can specify an <em class="firstterm">operator
- class</em> for each column of an index.
- </p><pre class="synopsis">
- CREATE INDEX <em class="replaceable"><code>name</code></em> ON <em class="replaceable"><code>table</code></em> (<em class="replaceable"><code>column</code></em> <em class="replaceable"><code>opclass</code></em> [<span class="optional"><em class="replaceable"><code>sort options</code></em></span>] [<span class="optional">, ...</span>]);
- </pre><p>
- The operator class identifies the operators to be used by the index
- for that column. For example, a B-tree index on the type <code class="type">int4</code>
- would use the <code class="literal">int4_ops</code> class; this operator
- class includes comparison functions for values of type <code class="type">int4</code>.
- In practice the default operator class for the column's data type is
- usually sufficient. The main reason for having operator classes is
- that for some data types, there could be more than one meaningful
- index behavior. For example, we might want to sort a complex-number data
- type either by absolute value or by real part. We could do this by
- defining two operator classes for the data type and then selecting
- the proper class when making an index. The operator class determines
- the basic sort ordering (which can then be modified by adding sort options
- <code class="literal">COLLATE</code>,
- <code class="literal">ASC</code>/<code class="literal">DESC</code> and/or
- <code class="literal">NULLS FIRST</code>/<code class="literal">NULLS LAST</code>).
- </p><p>
- There are also some built-in operator classes besides the default ones:
-
- </p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem"><p>
- The operator classes <code class="literal">text_pattern_ops</code>,
- <code class="literal">varchar_pattern_ops</code>, and
- <code class="literal">bpchar_pattern_ops</code> support B-tree indexes on
- the types <code class="type">text</code>, <code class="type">varchar</code>, and
- <code class="type">char</code> respectively. The
- difference from the default operator classes is that the values
- are compared strictly character by character rather than
- according to the locale-specific collation rules. This makes
- these operator classes suitable for use by queries involving
- pattern matching expressions (<code class="literal">LIKE</code> or POSIX
- regular expressions) when the database does not use the standard
- <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">C</span>”</span> locale. As an example, you might index a
- <code class="type">varchar</code> column like this:
- </p><pre class="programlisting">
- CREATE INDEX test_index ON test_table (col varchar_pattern_ops);
- </pre><p>
- Note that you should also create an index with the default operator
- class if you want queries involving ordinary <code class="literal"><</code>,
- <code class="literal"><=</code>, <code class="literal">></code>, or <code class="literal">>=</code> comparisons
- to use an index. Such queries cannot use the
- <code class="literal"><em class="replaceable"><code>xxx</code></em>_pattern_ops</code>
- operator classes. (Ordinary equality comparisons can use these
- operator classes, however.) It is possible to create multiple
- indexes on the same column with different operator classes.
- If you do use the C locale, you do not need the
- <code class="literal"><em class="replaceable"><code>xxx</code></em>_pattern_ops</code>
- operator classes, because an index with the default operator class
- is usable for pattern-matching queries in the C locale.
- </p></li></ul></div><p>
- </p><p>
- The following query shows all defined operator classes:
-
- </p><pre class="programlisting">
- SELECT am.amname AS index_method,
- opc.opcname AS opclass_name,
- opc.opcintype::regtype AS indexed_type,
- opc.opcdefault AS is_default
- FROM pg_am am, pg_opclass opc
- WHERE opc.opcmethod = am.oid
- ORDER BY index_method, opclass_name;
- </pre><p>
- </p><p>
- An operator class is actually just a subset of a larger structure called an
- <em class="firstterm">operator family</em>. In cases where several data types have
- similar behaviors, it is frequently useful to define cross-data-type
- operators and allow these to work with indexes. To do this, the operator
- classes for each of the types must be grouped into the same operator
- family. The cross-type operators are members of the family, but are not
- associated with any single class within the family.
- </p><p>
- This expanded version of the previous query shows the operator family
- each operator class belongs to:
- </p><pre class="programlisting">
- SELECT am.amname AS index_method,
- opc.opcname AS opclass_name,
- opf.opfname AS opfamily_name,
- opc.opcintype::regtype AS indexed_type,
- opc.opcdefault AS is_default
- FROM pg_am am, pg_opclass opc, pg_opfamily opf
- WHERE opc.opcmethod = am.oid AND
- opc.opcfamily = opf.oid
- ORDER BY index_method, opclass_name;
- </pre><p>
- </p><p>
- This query shows all defined operator families and all
- the operators included in each family:
- </p><pre class="programlisting">
- SELECT am.amname AS index_method,
- opf.opfname AS opfamily_name,
- amop.amopopr::regoperator AS opfamily_operator
- FROM pg_am am, pg_opfamily opf, pg_amop amop
- WHERE opf.opfmethod = am.oid AND
- amop.amopfamily = opf.oid
- ORDER BY index_method, opfamily_name, opfamily_operator;
- </pre><p>
- </p></div><div class="navfooter"><hr /><table width="100%" summary="Navigation footer"><tr><td width="40%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="indexes-index-only-scans.html">Prev</a> </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="u" href="indexes.html">Up</a></td><td width="40%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="indexes-collations.html">Next</a></td></tr><tr><td width="40%" align="left" valign="top">11.9. Index-Only Scans and Covering Indexes </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="h" href="index.html">Home</a></td><td width="40%" align="right" valign="top"> 11.11. Indexes and Collations</td></tr></table></div></body></html>
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